title: Diabetes cases on the rise: current diagnosis guidelines and research efforts for a cure.
abstract: Diabetes is a devastating disease that accounts for more than $132 billion in healthcare costs annually in the U.S., and these costs are predicted to rise as high as $192 billion by the year 2020 (see recent statistics from AHRQ on page 12). For many people with diabetes, the life expectancy is shorter than that of age-matched non-diabetics. This fate is due to both the microvascular and macrovascular complications resulting from prolonged hyperglycemia. Current ADA guidelines for diagnosis include measures of plasma glucose and Alc, a glycated form of hemoglobin that has been used for many years as a marker of average glycemia. To see how Alc affects the overall number of people in the U.S. diagnosed with diabetes as a result of the test's greater practicality will be interesting. Significant progress has been made in diabetes research through the use of stem-cell technology, molecular DNA methods, and discoveries of novel insulin-controlling systems in the body. Several federally funded diabetes-research centers across the United States are currently continuing these efforts and, ultimately, hope for a cure for diabetes and its complications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Ross J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Molinaro
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D035843:Biomedical Research; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic